Duxbury family seeks assault charge against Scituate hockey player over hard hit

Thursday

Apr 26, 2012 at 12:01 AMApr 26, 2012 at 10:35 AM

The parents of Duxbury High hockey player Tucker Hannon are seeking a criminal complaint against Scituate's Alex Way over a hit in a game on Jan. 7. Watch a video of the hit taken by Lisa Segal of Segal Media Priductions.

Patrick Ronan

Tucker Hannon of Duxbury skated over the blue line, received a backhanded pass with his stick and slapped the puck toward Scituate’s goaltender. As the shot sailed wide of the net, Scituate’s Alex Way charged in from the right and sent Hannon to the ice with a hard check.

The hit didn’t land Way in the penalty box, but it will land him in court Friday. That’s because Hannon’s parents are seeking an assault and battery charge against the Scituate High School senior.

Hannon, 18, suffered a severe concussion on the play, causing him to miss the rest of the hockey season and five weeks of school. The hit occurred Jan. 7 during a game at The Bog Ice Arena in Kingston.

The Plymouth District Court clerk magistrate will review the case Friday and decide whether the district attorney’s office should pursue criminal charges against Way.

“If this (check) was off the rink, on a public way, that is gross, negligent assault and battery,” said Jay Mullen, the attorney representing Thomas and Sheila Hannon, Tucker’s parents.

Mullen said Way intentionally took aim at Hannon’s head and hit him after the play was over.

Mike Breen, Scituate’s boys’ hockey coach, said Way made a “good, clean hit” with no intent to hurt the Duxbury player.

“He’s just not a kid that would go out to hurt anyone. He’s a real nice, polite kid,” Breen said.

Way is a 6-foot-4, 225 pound three-sport athlete who also plays lacrosse and football. He is a member of the National Honor Society and plans to attend Williams College in the fall.

Hannon, who is 5-9, 145 pounds, also plays football and lacrosse. He missed his mid-term exams this year because of the concussion, and he said he had to sit in darkness – light can aggravate brain injuries – for several weeks while recovering from the injury.

“I still get headaches that I’ve never had before,” Tucker said Wednesday.

Thomas Hannon said he only filed the complaint because Scituate’s school administrators, athletic department and hockey coaches didn’t respond to his family’s multiple requests for a sit-down meeting to discuss the hit.

Thomas said he either wanted Way to apologize to his son, or for the school to suspend Way for two games. He said neither happened.

“We didn’t come out of the clear blue with this,” Thomas Hannon said. “This could have all been taken care of with a small meeting between coaches and players. No one on their end wanted to do that.”

Scituate Athletic Director Rick Cash gave no comment on the complaint. When asked if Way was suspended for the hit, Cash said that all disciplinary matters in the athletic department are kept private.

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, the governing body overseeing the state’s high school sports, did not take any action against Way or Scituate High School because the game’s referees didn’t call a penalty on the hit.

“With or without a penalty called during the game, a criminal complaint (stemming from a high school play) is really unheard of,” MIAA spokesman Paul Wetzel said.

It’s not unheard of on the professional level. Last year, Boston Bruins’ defenseman Zdeno Chara was the subject of a criminal investigation after he checked Montreal Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty into the boards during a game. Pacioretty sustained a concussion, but Chara was never charged.

Robert Harnais, the lawyer representing Way, said there’s no proof it was Way’s check that caused Hannon’s head injury. Shortly after the hit, which was captured on video, another Duxbury player shoves a Scituate player and causes him to fall on top of Hannon. Harnais said the concussion could have happened then.

And if Way’s hit did cause the injury, Harnais said it’s part of the game.

“It was an intentional hit, but every check is an intentional hit. When players sign up for hockey, they acquiesce to hits,” Harnais said.

Jennifer Way, Alex’s mother, said her son suffered a concussion during a football game this past fall.

“We did not point fingers because it’s a contact sport. It’s one of the risks of playing a contact sport,” she said.